Singareni re-employment: workers dismissed for absence in 2023-25 can apply by 14 November

Former coal miners who lost their jobs at Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) for staying away from work without leave now have a way back. Announcing a Singareni re-employment window on Tuesday, 3 November, the company’s management said it would reopen the files of staff removed for unauthorised absence from 1 January 2023 to 31 December 2025, and has set up a High-Power Committee to weigh whether they can return.

The window is short. Applications must be filed by Saturday, 14 November 2026, and only those who meet three conditions will be considered.

Who can apply

The first condition is age: an applicant must be 46 or younger as on 1 April 2026. The second is a past attendance record. Looking back over the five calendar years that came before the dismissal period, at least two of those years must show 100 or more muster days, the days a worker is marked present on the mine’s attendance roll.

The third is fitness. Those taken back would be reappointed as General Assistant Trainee (Underground), a Category-I post, and must pass as medically fit for work below ground.

Eligible former employees have to complete the set application form and submit it to whoever heads the mine, or the department, they were last attached to. Officials at the respective mines and departments can give full details of the procedure.

Not the first second chance

SCCL has opened its doors to dismissed staff before. In September 2025, the management ordered that 43 Junior Mining Engineer Trainees be taken back; most had lost their posts over unauthorised absence and missing documents. That step came out of a three-way pact signed by the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner, the company and the recognised union, the Singareni Collieries Workers Union (AITUC).

Those trainees came back as fresh appointees. They had to place their certificates before a high-power committee, clear medical tests, and log a minimum of 190 muster days in the first year back.

The new notice is not tied to one cadre. It applies to any former employee whose removal for staying away from duty falls inside the three-year window, provided the age, attendance and fitness tests are met.